AI Weekly: Cutting-edge language models can produce convincing misinformation if we don't stop them

It's been three months since OpenAI launched an API underpinned by cutting-edge language model GPT-3, and it continues to be the subject of fascination within the AI community and beyond. Portland State University computer science professor Melanie Mitchell found evidence that GPT-3 can make primitive analogies, and Columbia University's Raphaël Millière asked GPT-3 to compose a response to the philosophical essays written about it. But as the U.S. presidential election nears, there's growing concern among academics that tools like GPT-3 could be co-opted by malicious actors to foment discord by spreading misinformation, disinformation, and outright lies. In a paper published by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies' Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism (CTEC), the coauthors find that GPT-3's strength in generating "informational," "influential" text could be leveraged to "radicalize individuals into violent far-right extremist ideologies and behaviors." Bots are increasingly being used around the world to sow the seeds of unrest, either through the spread of misinformation or the amplification of controversial points of view.